Welcome to the Ludington Lab

Ecosystems fluctuate over time. For example, in a forest trees fall, seeds grow, and sometimes forest fires burn it all down. Microbial ecosystems experience similar fluctuations but on a much faster time scale. Taking advantage of the fast time scale and ease of setting up a controlled experiment, we study complex ecological dynamics that arise from microbial community interactions. Our research group investigates basic ecological principles in the context of gnotobiotic Drosophila melanogaster microbiomes in order to understand the complicated and often complex relationship between microbiome and host.